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ADL Daily – Valencia’s absence will be felt by Manchester United, England climb up Fifa world rankings
Thursday 16 September 2010
Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia is likely to miss the remainder of the season after suffering a broken bone in the lower left leg and a dislocation of the ankle in United’s UEFA Champions League group match against Rangers. While Sir Alex Ferguson can look to Park Ji-Sung, Ryan Giggs, Gabriel Obertan and Bébé to replace Valencia on the wing, the Ecuadorian’s presence will be sorely missed. As an out-and-out winger, Valencia possesses speed, strength, athleticism, intelligence as well as a superb crossing ability. His delivery from wide areas was instrumental in contributing to Wayne Rooney’s 35-goal tally last season. Not only will he be missed for providing support to the front men, he will also be missed for his team effort, particularly his eagerness to defend.
On the issue of injuries, Arsene Wenger has called for video evidence to punish bad tackles in retrospect. This call came after Paul Robinson’s challenge on Abou Diaby on the weekend went unpunished by referee Stuart Attwell. The Arsenal manager believes that the FA should be able to force disciplinary action on those who have gone unpunished for dangerous tackles. “My regret is that video evidence cannot be used in these cases afterwards,” he said. “I can understand that the ref did not see it, because he was in a bad position, but frankly the Premier League should be in a position whether they can suspend players who do this kind of thing.” This has raised the question of whether or not tackling is too brutal in the Premier League and if action needs to be taken to protect players from harmful injuries.
In other news, England have climbed up to sixth place in the Fifa world rankings after two consecutive victories in their opening Euro 2012 qualifiers, despite their disappointing World Cup campaign in South Africa in the summer. However, this has led many to question the overall worth of the ranking system. Results in the African Cup of Nations and the Euro 2012 qualifiers were given more weight than the most recent tournament of significance, the 2010 World Cup, and, as a result, Egypt, who did not make the World Cup, are ranked ninth. While England have made a positive start to Euro 2012 qualifiers, the rankings do not reflect their poor standing in the World Cup, with teams such as Uruguay, Paraguay and Ghana ranked behind England, despite progressing to the latter stages of the tournament.
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